U.S. Visa Drawing Winners Must Beat Odds Again : Immigration: Group of 50,000 whose names were chosen by lot from among 9.3 million finds that there are only 40,000 openings. Now there is a scramble to file papers first.

Udo Czech, an illegal immigrant from Germany, considered himself one lucky guy last October when he beat out 9.3 million people around the world for one of 40,000 immigrant visas the U.S. government raffled away in an unusual and chaotic lottery.

Now, he has discovered he may need a little more luck before becoming an American.

To the dismay of Czech and thousands of others applicants, the U.S. State Department picked 50,000 winners for the 40,000 visas--an extra 10,000 finalists--on the assumption there would be many ineligible applicants, no-shows and duplicates.

Now the race is on once again as these would-be immigrants hustle to submit all the necessary documentation for the visas that will be doled out on a first-come, first-served basis. For most, it is an unnerving climax to what has become a strange journey to America. “I have a feeling this must all be a joke,” said Czech, a Beverly Hills hairdresser.

A 23-year-old New York City waitress from Ireland who also was selected as a finalist, added: “I guess it’s another lottery. . . . What a really weird way to run things.”

The scramble for the 40,000 visas is the final twist in an unusual program designed to increase immigration to the United States from 34 countries--largely in Europe--that have sent relatively few immigrants over the years.

The State Department was inundated with applications, receiving 19 million letters--four times more than expected. About 7.5 million that arrived before the October filing period were thrown away along with 2 million more that came later.

The 9.3 million good applications arrived during the official one-week filing period, although the selection by lottery was over in a matter of hours.

The State Department opened only 393,250 applications--screening out duplicates and ineligible applications--to find the 50,000 finalists.

The visa lottery--the first permanent immigration program in the nation’s history based solely on luck--was approved last year in an attempt to “diversify” the flow of immigrants into the United States, which over the past three decades has been dominated by Asians and Latin Americans.

To facilitate immigration from other groups, Congress settled on a lottery open to residents of those countries that had been “adversely affected” by the existing immigration policy that favored foreigners with immediate relatives in the United States or those with needed job skills.

At the prodding of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), the Irish were guaranteed at least 40% of the visas for the first three years.

The lottery was open to any native of the 34 countries whether they were already living in the United States--some illegally--or still overseas.

The application period was set for the week of Oct. 14. But months before there were signs that the lottery might become a circus.

Advertisements from lawyers began appearing in foreign-language newspapers, offering prompt delivery of an application for fees as high as $2,500--even though the application required no special skills to complete.

Some hopeful immigrants prepared hundreds and even thousands of applications to increase their chances. Postal officials braced for an onslaught at the processing facility designated to handle the flow.

At 12:01 a.m. Oct. 14, the race began. Thousands of would-be immigrants who had camped out in Virginia hoping to get a jump on their competition mobbed the facility.

Lines formed throughout the morning as the applications were dumped in 35 collection bins set up outside the facility.

“It was mad,” said the New York City waitress, who drove to Virginia with a friend and stayed for four days in a hotel, dribbling out her 360 applications. “People were throwing applications everywhere.”

Despite the mad scramble, the State Department said that winning applications were mailed anywhere from one day to two weeks before the application period began. About 25% of the applications came from abroad.

The big winners in the lottery, as guaranteed by law, were the Irish, with 20,000 finalists, followed by the residents of Poland with 12,060, Japan, 6,413, and Great Britain, 3,054.

State Department spokesman Mike Brennan said about 30,000 applicants have been notified of their preliminary selection so far. The department expects to reach all finalists by the end of the month.

Brennan said the number of extra finalists was based on previous lotteries that have had relatively high numbers of duplicates and ineligible applications. The department is banking there will be enough dropouts so that every finalist will receive a visa.

But that prediction is little consolation to the thousands of applicants who thought they had won the grand prize.

“It’s like being on a roller coaster,” Czech said. “You got something and you’re actually in the door, but then they say, ‘It’s not yours yet.’ ”

The visas will be granted on a first-come, first-served basis. To get a place in line, applicants must return the final application to the State Department along with a $25 fee and a letter from a U.S. employer, promising a job for at least one year.

After that, most will have to return to their native countries for an interview with consular officials--a process that could take well into next year.

Some applicants--such as the many who entered the country by fraudulently obtaining a tourist visa even though they intended to stay for good--could find themselves even farther back in the line as they seek a special waiver from the attorney general.

“I won’t celebrate until I have the visa in my hand,” said Czech, who said he overstayed a visitor’s visa that was issued in 1988.

Czech’s attorney, Ron Tasoff of Los Angeles, has spent the past few weeks calling clients and mailing applications around the world.

“I’ve got at least one person I’ve been calling every night,” he said. “Some people are going to have their hearts broken.”

There also could be more problems in the coming months as U.S. consular offices begin dealing with the flood of applicants who must be interviewed.

The Luxembourg Embassy has it easy with just one finalist. But the tiny embassy in Dublin, Ireland, is facing a possible meltdown with 20,000 finalists raring to go.

“That means 500 interviews a week over the next nine months, 100 a day,” said Sean Benson, executive director of the nonprofit Emerald Isle Immigration Center in New York City. “How many people do they have there in the Dublin embassy?”

For the millions who didn’t make it to the finals this year, the lottery will be held every year.

To avoid repeating this year’s chaos, Congress recently passed amendments that would limit immigrants to one application and make the lottery a truly random contest in which winners would be picked by computer.

“Sounds like a much better system to me,” said a North Hollywood resident from Great Britain, who sent in just four applications and lost. “Much less messy.”

Visa Lottery

Here’s a look at the outcome of October’s immigration visa lottery. Residents of only 34 countries, adversely affected by current immigration policies, were allowed to participate. Three countries that qualified-Guadaloupe, San Marino and Liechtenstein-had no finalists selected. Out of the 50,000 finalists selected, 40,000 will receive immigrant visas. Ireland: 20,000 Poland: 12,060 Japan: 6,413 Great Britain: 3,054 Indonesia: 2,947 Argentina: 1,453 Other: 4,073 Total: 50,000

BREAKDOWN OF OTHER COUNTRIES Germany: 657 France: 636 Italy: 469 Norway: 287 Czechoslovakia: 261 Hungary: 240 Sweden: 226 Netherlands: 213 Algeria: 212 Switzerland: 172 Denmark: 145 Belgium: 110 Tunisia: 109 Austria: 108 Finland: 88 Lithuania: 58 Albania: 21 Latvia: 20 Iceland: 18 Estonia: 15 Bermuda: 2 Monaco: 2 New Caledonia: 2 Gibraltar: 1 Luxembourg: 1 Guadaloupe: 0 San Marino: 0 Liechtenstein: 0 SOURCE: U.S. State Department